30 AMP or 50 AMP connection.

[Vaquero]

Reckon what the ampacity of baling wire is?
Back in the day, we had a circuit that tripped the breakers almost daily.
Right around 4:00 pm. We had countless man hours patrolling that line.
Turned out, once "Dennis the Menace" got off the bus from school, he'd grab a longish strand of baling wire and heave it over the power line.

Upstream breaker was a 60 amp. Vacuum type.

Point being, if a 10ga copper cable "cooks" behind a 50 amp breaker.
That's a bad breaker.
A direct short (phase to phase or phase to ground) will trip a breaker way beyond the capacity rating of the shorted conductor.

Voltage not being a factor.

[RayBo]

Ok, so I'm man enough to man-up here. Thanks for all your comments, and I apologize for getting everyone triggered here. Our experiences obviously differ. I have enough strife without creating it on a forum.

We never go to "campgrounds" we do rodeo. Many of the rodeo grounds have GFCI's (like Eaton and Bender) just like they use at marinas for shore power, because we're always in mud and water. If your cord gets cut, the GFCI trips in 200 milliseconds or less. Your experience at campgrounds obviously differs, after seeing all the comments, but I just have to trust you on that.

I stand down.

[Atlee]

Would a Progressive Industries EMI device plugged in between the 50 to 30 amp dog bone and the power cord for the RV come in handy here. Would it protect the cord and every thing down stream from the PI EMI?

Originally Posted by wags999

The confusion comes in because he believes your RV breaker is protecting the cord. I'ts not, it's protecting everything AFTER it enters your RV breaker.

The pedestal breaker most likely is connected to a 60 amp breaker at the campground main box. Camp sites are typically daisy chain wired...meaning every other campsite is wired together. Each main at the campground main box controls two camp sites (for that amp receptacle). What the means, is, when your working on the breaker you have 60 amps of power available, not 30 that is the breaker size.

The thing to remember is, whatever you plug into, that is what your cord can POTENTIALLY carry, until the next breaker is hit, then after that breaker it is protecting the system.

When plugged into a 50 amp receptacle with a 30 amp RV cord you would be using one of the legs in that 50 amp receptacle, thus, exposing your cord to 50 amps at 120 volts. IF your cord shorts ahead of the RV breaker it COULD pull the full 50 amps of power before the pedestal breaker would trip...the RV breaker may never trip in this example.

Best policy is to always plug into the appropriate receptacle when it's safe. You gain nothing in power by plugging into a higher amperage receptacle. IF, the 30 amp receptacle is damaged then, I would use a dog bone to connect to the 50 amp receptacle. BUT I would also IMMEDIATELY notify the campground and hopefully they would rectify the problem so you can use the appropriate receptacle.

Happy Camping

thank you nwminnesota for corroborating what I said.

[GrayHawk51]

Originally Posted by ROC-REQS

It won't make a different.

50A shore power provides power via 2 legs.

30A shore power provides power via only 1 leg.

A 50A to 30A dog bone only used 1 leg of the 2 50A legs.

So, if you connect directly to the 30A shore power or connect to the 50A shore power using a 50A to 30A dog bone, your provably getting power off the same leg.

I'm curious on why the electrician said you wouldn't get a full 30A.

DITTO ! I have 50 amp in wall with a 30 amp reducer. And, ALWAYS use a surge protector at home or on the road !

[wags999]

Originally Posted by Atlee

Would a Progressive Industries EMI device plugged in between the 50 to 30 amp dog bone and the power cord for the RV come in handy here. Would it protect the cord and every thing down stream from the PI EMI?

short answer yes...if you plug a 30 amp EMS into the 50 amp receptacle then it should be protected as the power would be cut off at the pedestal. I'm not sure if the EMS would shut power off at 30 amps or not..need to look into that since in a normal installation the breaker would shut your power off in an over amperage situation rather than the EMS shutting an over amperage situation. The EMS would shut off in an over / under voltage and the other issues...open neutral etc.

Thinking about it, I doubt it would protect for an over amperage situation where you plug into a 50 amp breaker with a 30 amp EMS. Since the EMS does not operate as a standard breaker.

Perhaps others will chime in...

[Robbbyr]

I don't believe an EMS acts as a circuit breaker, couldn't find any overload opening specs for my hardwired 50-amp unit. Did not check specs on a portable.

[Vicr]

An EMS is not an over current device. And to the surprise of some neither is a GFCI.

[Atlee]

So an over current condition is different from a current spike?

Originally Posted by Vicr

An EMS is not an over current device. And to the surprise of some neither is a GFCI.

[wags999]

Originally Posted by Atlee

So an over current condition is different from a current spike?

Yes, over current means pulling amps, surge is extreme high voltage. It would equate to extreme high pressure in a water pipe.